Fairbanks To Denali

Fairbanks to Denali

Arrived in Fairbanks (North Pole Alaska) around noon and started to explore. Where else would you expect to find Santa Claus’ house, and street names such as Santa Claus Lane, Kris Kringle Drive and Snowman Lane to name a few.  We soon noticed the car was making a noise, so off to the Seekins Ford garage. A stone was lodged in the brake somewhere and they fixed us up at no charge. Pretty nice of them!

Took pictures of the pipeline and drove a few of the back roads looking for moose, no luck tonight. Woke up to rain and temps in the 50s so the Museum of the North at the University of Alaska sounded pretty good, and it was! We went to view the muskox first, at a university run farm, then we spent the entire afternoon in the museum. They had Alaska’s largest public display of gold, many wildlife exhibits, and a lot of information on the native peoples, and their crafts. There was also an awesome art gallery.

 Fri the 19^th was a rest day for us, We went to the North Pole Visitors center Where the very nice girl, a transplant from Atlanta GA, directed us to a nice community of log homes with sod roofs, I commented on the rhubarb growing everywhere and she invited me to pull some in front of the center, She said she had never tasted it, I got enough for a custard and baked it that afternoon. We went to a laundry mat for the first time in years, we have a washer dryer in the rv but since we are dry camping we thought it would be easier to get it all done at one time. Shocker” the washers were $8.50, and the dryers were .70 for 6 minutes. Well at least it didn’t take as long as it would have in the motorhome, and I met an interesting character, a fellow who dumpster dives and sells his findings at flea markets. There are two military bases near here, Eielson Air Force Base, and Fort Wainwright Army Base, when the soldiers get orders, they leave a lot of their belongings behind, as it is not sensible to pay to ship them, hence he finds a lot of good things. He told me of the Fairbanks dumpster war in 2009, when a councilman wanted to impose a fine on anyone caught raiding the dumpsters. Five hundred dumpster people showed up at the meeting and the councilman even voted aghast his own proposal. and left town in less than 2 weeks.

Friday we went to the Golden Days at Pioneer Park, Where they had a flower show, and quilt show, in addition to the other attractions there. The park is set up like an early village in Alaska,  with little shops in the homes, many of which were moved here from other places in the community. There is also a large sternwheeler on display. They have a nice Salmon bake there but we partook last time we were here so decided on some Greek food tonight. From there we went to the WEIO Games WORLD ESKIMO INDIAN OLYMPICS, The auditorium was filled with Eskimo artists selling jewelry, carved tusks, fur coats, drums and much more. The games are representative of the skills the Indians needed to survive the unforgiving Arctic. Blanket toss, the athlete who jumps the highest with the most grace wins this one, Greased Pole Walk: a test of balance needed to cross wet logs across creeks or reach a fish wheel, Ear Pull, they sit facing each other with twine looped around their ears and tug as they lean backwards until the string comes loose or someone gives up. This is a test of the ability to endure pain. There are also dances and costume contests, many more games. Took another ride moose hunting with no luck, Norm says they don’t come out during the rain, but I think they can’t bed down forever and that’s how long I think it’s going to rain here!

Sat we woke up to rain again, we attended the pioneer days parade and afterward another moose hunt! We ended up at the downtown Visitors center where we viewed 3 movies and looked through a very interesting display we went home to Mickey and are getting ready to head south toward Denali tomorrow.

  Well we left our campsite at North Pole Sun. 7/22, and headed south on Parks Highway (#3). It is about 121 miles to Denali from Fairbanks and 348 mi to Anchorage. After about 40 miles Norms keen eye spotted Skinny Dicks! He had remembered seeing a pin from there in the University of The North Museum. We had both commented on the pin because it had two polar bears on it and I collect Pins from places we’ve visited for my badge sash. In the museum it was on a model outhouse.

He hunted a pullout and we went back for a pin. It was quite the place. We met a couple from Easton PA there who had heard about it in Anchorage at a comedy performance. They were out of pins but had one earring that they kindly gave me, it will work just fine I can replace the back. They were suprised to learn thier pin was in the museum, and said they would order more.

We arrived at a pull out, six miles north of the Park road, around noon in plenty of time for a drive to Savage River in the park. This is as far as you are allowed to drive your car. If you want to go any farther you must take a park bus. The big attraction is the bus trip 92 miles to Kantishna an old gold mining site and Wonder Lake where there is a good viewing point of Mount McKinley or Denali (the high one), 20,320 ft. high! The Bus trip is 12 hours long and depending on the weather you may be among the 70% who don’t get to see the mountain. We were so lucky last time we were here to see it 3 times; the sky is so full of clouds we decided not to take the bus this time. 12 hours on a school type bus just doesn’t sound that good to me. The Caribou/ Reindeer did show themselves along the Savage river. After leaving the park we took another ride on Stampede Trail, the road taken by the fellow in the book and 2006 movie “Into the Wild”. There are some beautiful views from there and BINGO, we saw a moose.

Monday we went to Denali Visitors Center then took the bus to the Dog Sled Demonstration. The dogs were all sleeping when we arrived but did they ever perk up when the ranger got the sled out. They love to pull! After that we drove south, about 12 miles, to locate a bakery that we had stopped at in 2002 and see if the same people were running it. Back then by the road was a bakery and up on a hill there was a very nice restaurant.

We got to know the mother of the folks who were operating the restaurant; she ran the bakery and baked the bread and pies for the restaurant. She is from Oregon and doesn’t come up any more for the summers. The two boys who were teenagers at the time have taken the bakery over and now it’s a pizza and Pub, and they do a great business (the name is The Perch for those of you coming after). We stopped for a pizza and it was excellent. The place on the hill is only open for breakfast; they said they had staff problems. They also have a few cottages for rent. It’s interesting to see the changes 10 years makes. Back to Denali to go to Savage River again, this time we hiked the loop, I like my walking sticks, saw more Caribou but no sheep. We talked with some folks who were on a Fantasy Caravan who had taken the bus and they didn’t get to see the mountain, but said the trip was worth the ride. 

Quilt show at Fairbanks













My favorite below has beading












Olympic games



























Fairbanks Golden Days Parade




























Sod roofed homes in North Pole






Part of the largest display of gold in Alaska














Pump House Restaurant






Getting our Motorhome stone chips repaired









Pipeline North of Fairbanks































Sod Roofed Houses at North Pole AK











Largest display of gold in AK at the Museum of the North


























Pump House Restaurant













Getting the dings fixed in the motorhome windshield




Our stop for a pin




































Sleepy sled dogs









Wide awake when they thought they were going to get to pull the sled